1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oil recovery technology, and, more specifically, to an enhanced oil recovery system that includes a solar-assisted ion transport membrane to produce oxygen for combustion in the well for thermally enhanced oil recovery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional methods of primary and secondary oil production generally recover about one-third of the oil in the reservoir while leaving the rest behind, since the cost to extract the remaining oil would likely be greater when compared to the cost to extract oil from a newly discovered oil field. Regardless, to maintain a high rate of oil recovery, many oil producers have started utilizing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques to extract heavy oil from aged reservoirs.
Typically, EOR techniques utilize different methods, such as thermal recovery or injection of gas, chemicals, or brine water. Thermal injection represents the largest EOR implemented technology and accounts for approximately 51.5% of the EOR techniques currently on the market. Gas EOR technology and chemical EOR technology are expected to increase to 38.5% and 10.3%, respectively, of the EOR technology market by 2023.
However, although in situ combustion and down-hole heating have great potential as new thermal EOR technologies emerge, many current in situ combustion and down-hole heating thermal EOR technologies require the use of large amounts of natural fuel, such as natural gas. As such, due to their associated carbon dioxide emissions, thermal EOR technologies typically leave a significant environmental footprint. Moreover, as a result of the quantity of natural gas consumed, utilizing the current in situ combustion down-hole techniques is not only very expensive, but can also be an inefficient use of a region's natural gas reserves.
Thus, an enhanced oil recovery system solving the aforementioned problems is desired.